I'm looking for some solid advice and would be most grateful for your thoughts on the subject. (My apologies if things seem a tad complicated.)

I'm a Canadian woman (born in Canada), in 2004 I married a European man (from an EU country) and shortly after the wedding (which took place in Canada - he just came for a couple of weeks so that we could have our wedding here) we returned to Europe together. It was always our undying hope and dream to return to Canada together (to live permanently), and then one day fate interjected our lives and helped us in a very interesting way.

My husband who works in the IT field was offered a six month job contract from a leading IT co. in a major Canadian city, and we arrived here (Canada) in March of this year (he's here on a temporary worker's permit). There is a chance (not for certain) that the company wants to hire him (using their word here) "permanently", or at the least renew his current contract. We have reason to believe that the possibility of a perm. job offer would be greater if the company knew that my husband had a way to stay here as a permanent resident. (Something of a double edge sword situation perhaps )

Should either or those two scenarios happen or not, we absolutely want to stay here and start our life in Canada together. The big hurdle there is getting my husband a Canadian permanent residence permit. We have long thought about the idea of both inland and external spousal (family class) sponsorship but the prime issue that arises there is that due to health related issues I've not worked (in Canada or elsewhere) since 2003. And prior to that (even working full time) I did not earn anything over $20,000/year. However, at his current job now (and previously in Europe) my husband makes a very respectable income and is able to provide for both of us (if that fact comes into play at all here).

Despite being a leader in his specific IT field I think that at the moment he would not quite score high enough to apply as a skilled worker, but perhaps if a permanent job offer was extended from his company he could gain enough points to qualify as an applicant. But in the event that this doesn't happen (or any number of other situations), I am wondering what the best way for us to get my husband a permanent residence permit would be?

Thank-you ever so much in advance for your time and thoughts,

P.S.

In my years of research I have encountered many conflicting statements that relate to the income that is required by the spouse who is applying to sponsor their partner (spouse). Once and for all, can someone please tell me if it's true that I would require a certain income level, and be excepted from sponsoring my husband if I did not meet said income level? Again, many sincere thanks.

Thank-you so very, very much Mr. Liberman, I have been trying to find the exact name of that document for a long time, and you've now helped me out greatly.

May I ask of you, do you think that my husband and I should do this process with the aid of a qualified immigration lawyer/constant? I just want to do everything in the universe to guarantee that we can get him permanent residency.

Thank-you again for your time and advice, Sir, you have no idea how much it means to me.

My wife and I are in the same spot, more or less, except we've got 2 little ones. She's the Canadian citizen, and a stay at home mom, while I'm the breadwinner. Reading that reference in the regs it looks like we can't use this exception. But then, the kids are both citizens too, we just need to get their proof of citizen cards. So...for the purposes of this exception, are they considered dependants, and therefore a dealbreaker here? Thanks so much in advance!